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{{short description|German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, 1917}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2018}}
{{Infobox military conflict
|conflict = {{ubl|Operation Alberich|{{native name|de|paren=omit|(Unternehmen Alberich)}}}}
|partof = the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]] of the [[First World War]]
|image = File:Operation Alberich, March, 1917.jpg
|image_upright = 1.0
|caption = New front line after Operation Alberich
|date= 9 February – 20 March 1917
|place= Picardy, France
|coordinates = {{Coord|49|30|N|02|50|E|type:event_region:FR|display=inline}}
|result= German success
|territory = Noyon and Bapaume salients abandoned
|combatant1= {{ubl|{{flagcountry|French Third Republic}}|{{flagcountry|UKGBI}}}}
|combatant2= {{flagcountry|German Empire}}
|commander1= {{ubl|{{flagdeco|French Third Republic}} [[Robert Nivelle]]|{{flagdeco|UKGBI}} [[Douglas Haig]]|{{flagdeco|UKGBI}} [[Hubert Gough]]|{{flagdeco|UKGBI}} [[Henry Rawlinson, 1st Baron Rawlinson|Henry Rawlinson]]}}
|commander2= {{ubl|{{flagdeco|German Empire}} [[Erich Ludendorff]]|{{flagicon|German Empire}} [[Crown Prince Rupprecht]]|{{flagdeco|German Empire}} [[Fritz von Below]]}}
|strength1=
|strength2=
|casualties1=
|casualties =
|notes=
}}
{{Infobox operational plan
| name = Operation Alberich
| partof = the [[Western Front (World War I)|Western Front]]
| image =
| caption =
| scope =
| type = Strategic withdrawal
| location = Noyon and Bapaume salients
| coordinates =
| map_type =
| latitude =
| longitude =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| map_label =
| planned = 1916–1917
| planned_by = Field Marshal [[Rupprecht von Bayern]]
| commanded_by = Quartermaster-General [[Erich Ludendorff]]
| objective = [[Withdrawal (military)|Retirement]] to the [[Hindenburg Line]]
| target =
| date = {{Start date|1917|02|09|df=y}} – {{End date|1917|03|20|df=y}}
| time =
| time-begin =
| time-end =
| timezone =
| executed_by = [[Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria]]
| outcome = Success
| casualties =
| campaignbox = {{Campaignbox Operations on the Ancre, 1917}}
{{Campaignbox Western Front (World War I)}}
}}
'''Operation Alberich''' ({{langx|de|Unternehmen Alberich}}) was the [[code name]] of a [[German Army (German Empire)|German]] military operation in [[France]] during the [[First World War]].{{efn|In [[Wagner]]'s opera cycle {{lang|de|[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]}}, {{lang|de|Alberich}}, the chief of the {{lang|de|[[Nibelung]]en}}, a race of dwarfs, is an antagonist.}} Two [[Salients, re-entrants and pockets|salients]] had been formed during the [[Battle of the Somme]] in 1916 between [[Arras]] and [[Saint-Quentin, Aisne|Saint-Quentin]] and from Saint-Quentin to [[Noyon]]. {{lang|de|Alberich}} was planned as a strategic withdrawal to new positions on the shorter and more easily defended [[Hindenburg Line]] ({{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}}).

General [[Erich Ludendorff]] was reluctant to order the withdrawal and hesitated until the last moment. The [[Withdrawal (military)|retirement]] took place between 9 February and 20 March 1917, after months of preparation. The German retreat shortened the Western front by {{cvt|40|km|order=flip}}. The withdrawal to the chord of the Bapaume and Noyon salients provided 13 to 14 extra divisions for the German strategic reserve, that was being assembled to defend the Aisne front against the Franco-British [[Nivelle Offensive]], preparations for which were barely concealed.

==Background==
===Winter 1916–1917===
Soon after taking over from {{lang|de|[[General of the Infantry (Germany)|General der Infanterie]]}} [[Erich von Falkenhayn]] as head of the Supreme Army Command ({{lang|de|[[Oberste Heeresleitung]]}}) at the end of August 1916, {{lang|de|[[Generalfeldmarschall#Kingdom of Prussia and German Empire|Generalfeldmarshall]]}} [[Paul von Hindenburg]] and his deputy {{lang|de|General der Infanterie}} [[Erich Ludendorff]], the {{lang|de|Erster Generalquartiermeister}} (First Quartermaster General) ordered the building of a new defensive line, east of the Somme battlefront, from Arras to Laon. Ludendorff was unsure as to whether retreating to the {{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}} ([[Hindenburg Line]]) was desirable, since it might diminish the morale of German soldiers and civilians.{{sfn|Sheldon|2009|pp=1–4}}

An offensive was considered as an alternative, if enough reserves could be assembled in the New Year and a staff study suggested that seventeen divisions might be made available but that this was far too few to have decisive effect in the west. Alternatives, such as a shorter withdrawal, were also canvassed but the lack of manpower made the decision to retire unavoidable, since even with reinforcements from the [[Eastern Front (World War I)|Eastern Front]], the German army in the west {{lang|de|(Westheer)}} numbered only 154 divisions against 190 Allied divisions, many of which were larger. A move back to the Hindenburg Line ({{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}}) would shorten the front by {{cvt|40|–|45|km|order=flip}} and require {{nowrap|13 to 14}} fewer divisions to hold.{{sfn|Sheldon|2009|pp=4–5}}

===German debates===
German army thinking about a withdrawal to the {{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}} changed during the winter of 1916–1917 and comprised positive and negative reasons. At first it was seen by OHL as a last resort, if pressure on the Somme front became overwhelming. After the Central Powers' success in the [[Battle of Bucharest]] (28 November – 6 December 1916) and the beginning of the winter lull in France, optimism at OHL that the retreat was unnecessary rose but was then deflated by the French attack at Verdun on 15 December. During January 1917 the resumption of [[U-boat Campaign (World War I)#1917: Resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare|unrestricted U-boat warfare]] on 1 February 1917 offered the possibility of driving Britain out of the war. To win in the west, the German armies would have only to avoid defeat; a retirement to the {{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}} would give the {{lang|de|Westheer}} a big defensive advantage.{{sfnm|1a1=Spears|1y=1939|1p=118|2a1=Boff|2y=2018|2pp=148–149}}

A move back to the {{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}} would generate reserves by shortening the front and the defensive strength of the new positions, built in depth, on reverse positions, behind wide belts of barbed wire and studded with machine-gun nests, would allow divisions to hold a wider frontage. Before the British and French could attack the new defences, they would have to rebuild the communications between the Somme and {{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}}, comprehensively destroyed by the Germans before the retirement. The Germans planned to waste the land; villages demolished, bridges blown, roads and railways dug up, wells tainted and the population carried off. The British and French armies would have to repeat the preparations for another offensive, after the retirement made preparations to resume the offensive on the Somme redundant. Every day's delay of an Entente offensive in France gave more time for the U-boat offensive to work; even if the Franco-British managed to attack, the {{lang|de|Westheer}} expected to defeat the attempt.{{sfn|Boff|2018|pp=149–150}}

[[File:Western front 1915-16.jpg|thumb|{{centre|Western front 1915–1916, Somme battlefront in blue}}]]
{{lang|de|General der Infanterie}} [[Fritz von Below]], commander of the [[1st Army (German Empire)|1st Army]] ({{lang|de|1. Armee/Armeeoberkommando 1/A.O.K. 1}}), had opposed a withdrawal to avoid a blow to the morale of the men who had fought to defend the Somme front. Subordinate commanders on the Somme doubted the ability of their men to withstand another offensive. The commander of the [[XIV Reserve Corps (German Empire)|XIV Reserve Corps]], {{lang|de|Generalleutnant}} [[Georg Fuchs]], reported that morale was low and that the defences were in a deplorable state, positions near the Ancre being nothing more than flooded shell holes. [[Hermann von Kuhl]], chief of staff of [[Army Group Rupprecht of Bavaria]] ({{lang|de|Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht}}) was persuaded by Fuchs and others to advocate a move back to the {{lang|de|Siegfriedstellung}} and on 4 February, the Kaiser, [[Wilhelm II]] ordered that the intervening ground be devastated and the retirement to begin on 9 February; Below and the 2nd Army commander, {{lang|de|[[General of the Cavalry (Germany)|General der Kavallerie]]}} [[Georg von der Marwitz]] (since 17 December 1916), had been overruled by a consensus of their leaders and subordinates.{{sfn|Boff|2018|pp=148–149}}

==Prelude==
===Crown Prince Rupprecht===
[[Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria]], commander of {{lang|de|Heeresgruppe Kronprinz Rupprecht}}, comprising the 1st Army, [[2nd Army (German Empire)|2nd Army]], [[6th Army (German Empire)|6th Army]] and the [[7th Army (German Empire)|7th Army]] (from the Somme front to [[Flanders]]) had preferred a deeper retreat to fortifications incorporating cities like [[Lille]] and [[Cambrai]] to deter an Entente attack. OHL judged this impractical for lack of manpower. Rupprecht also opposed the intention to turn the ground in the [[Noyon]] Salient into a wasteland when the final demolitions to [[scorched earth|scorch the earth]] began on 16 March, because of the damage to the prestige of the German Empire and the deleterious effects on the discipline of his troops.{{sfn|Boff|2018|p=150}} The demolitions made a desert of {{cvt|1500|sqkm|order=flip}} of territory and Rupprecht contemplated resignation, then relented, for fear that it might suggest a rift between Bavaria and the rest of Germany.{{sfn|Watson|2015|p=328}}{{sfn|Sheldon|2009|p=5}}

===Operations on the Ancre===

{{main|Tactical development on the Western Front in 1917#German defensive preparations in early 1917|l1=German defensive preparations in early 1917|Operations on the Ancre, January–March 1917}}
[[File:German retirements Somme 1917.png|thumb|{{centre|German retirements Somme, January–March 1917}}]]
From 11 January to 13 March 1917, the British [[Fifth Army (United Kingdom)|Fifth Army]] attacked the German 1st Army positions in the [[Ancre]] river valley, on the northern flank of the Somme battlefield of 1916. The Action of [[Miraumont]] (17–18 February), Capture of the [[Ligny-Thilloy|Thilloys]] (25 February – 2 March) and the Capture of [[Irles]] (10 March) took place before the main German withdrawal began.{{sfn|James|1990|p=15}} British attacks had taken place against exhausted German troops holding poor defensive positions left over from the fighting in 1916; some German troops had low morale and showed an unusual willingness to surrender. British attacks in the action of Miraumont and anticipation of further attacks led Rupprecht on 18 March to order a withdrawal.{{sfn|Bean|1982|p=60}}

The 1st Army withdrew of about {{cvt|3|mi}} on a {{cvt|15|mi}} front of the 1st Army to the {{lang|de|Riegel I Stellung}} from Essarts to Le Transloy on 22 February. The retirement caused some surprise to the British, despite the interception of wireless messages from 20 to 21 February.{{sfnm|1a1=Bean|1y=1982|1p=60|2a1=Falls|2y=1992|2pp=94–110}} A second German withdrawal took place on 11 March, during a preparatory British bombardment and was not noticed by the British until the night of {{nowrap|12/13 March.}} Patrols found {{lang|de|Riegel I Stellung}} empty between Bapaume and Achiet le Petit and strongly held on either flank. A British attack on Bucquoy at the north end of {{lang|de|Riegel I Stellung}} on the night of {{nowrap|13/14 March}} was a costly failure. German withdrawals on the Ancre spread south, beginning with a retirement from the salient around St Pierre Vaast Wood.{{sfn|Falls|1992|pp=94–110}}

=={{lang|de|Unternehmen Alberich}}==
===German withdrawal===
Alberich began on 9 February 1917 in the area to be abandoned. Railways and roads were dug up, trees were felled, water wells were polluted, towns and villages were demolished and many [[land mine]]s and other [[booby trap]]s were planted. About {{nowrap|125,000 able-bodied}} French civilians in the region were transported to work elsewhere in occupied France, while children, mothers and the elderly were left behind with minimal rations. On 4 March, Général [[Louis Franchet d'Espèrey]], commander of {{lang|fr|Groupe d'armées du Nord}} ([[Army Group North (France)|Northern Army Group]], GAN) advocated an attack while the Germans were preparing to retreat. The withdrawal took place from {{nowrap|16 to 20 March,}} with a retirement of about {{cvt|40|km|order=flip}}, giving up more French territory than that gained by the Allies from September 1914 until the beginning of the operation.{{sfn|Simkins|Jukes|Hickey|2003|pp=111, 119}}

===British operations===
During the German withdrawal the British [[Third Army (United Kingdom)|Third Army]] and Fifth Army followed up and conducted the [[Capture of Bapaume, 1917]] (17 March) and the [[Occupation of Péronne]] (18 March).{{sfn|James|1990|p=16}}

==Aftermath==
===Analysis===
[[File:Western Front 1917.jpg|thumb|{{centre|Map of the Western Front after Operation Alberich, 1917}}]]
By evacuating the Noyon and Bapaume salients, the Germans shortened their front by {{cvt|25|mi}}. Fourteen fewer German divisions were needed for line holding; Allied plans for their spring offensive were seriously disrupted.{{sfn|Simkins|Jukes|Hickey|2003|p=112}} The operation is considered to have been a propaganda disaster for Germany because of the scorched-earth policy but is also thought to be one of the shrewdest defensive operations of the war. During periods of fine weather in October 1916, British reconnaissance flights had reported new defences being built far behind the Somme front; on 9 November a formation of eight photographic reconnaissance aircraft and eight escorts reported a new line of defences from Bourlon Wood north to Quéant, Bullecourt, the Sensée river, Héninel and the German third line near Arras. Two other lines closer to the front were observed as they were dug ({{lang|de|Riegel I Stellung}} and {{lang|de|Riegel II Stellung}}) from Ablainzevelle to the west of Bapaume and Roquigny, with a branch from Achiet-le-Grand to Beugny and Ytres.{{sfn|Jones|2002|pp=317–318}}

In 2004, James Beach wrote that some authorities hold that British aerial reconnaissance failed to detect the construction of the Hindenburg Line or the German preparations for the troop withdrawal. Evidence of German intentions was collected but German deception measures caused unremarkable information to be gleaned from intermittent air reconnaissance. Frequent bad flying weather over the winter and the precedent of new German defences being built behind existing fortifications during the Somme battle, led British military intelligence to misinterpret the information. In late December 1916, reports from witnesses led the British and French to send air reconnaissance sorties further to the south and in mid-January 1917, British intelligence concluded that a new line was being built from Arras to Laon. By February, the line was known to be near completion and by 25 February, local withdrawals on the British Fifth Army front in the Ancre valley and prisoner interrogation led the British to anticipate a gradual German withdrawal to the new line.{{sfn|Beach|2004|pp=190–195}}

[[File:Mine crater in Athies April 1917 IWM Q 1941.jpg|thumb|{{centre|Mine crater in the road through [[Athies, Pas-de-Calais]], to impede the British follow-up}}]]
The first intimation of a German withdrawal occurred when British patrols probing German outposts towards [[Serre-lès-Puisieux|Serre]], found them unoccupied. The British began a slow follow-up but unreadiness, the decrepitude of the local roads and the German advantage of falling back on prepared lines behind rearguards of machine-gunners, meant that the Germans completed an orderly withdrawal. The new defences were built on reverse slopes, with positions behind the defences from which artillery observers could see the front position, experience having showed that infantry equipped with machine-guns needed a field of fire only a few hundred yards/meters deep. Unfortunately for the Germans, General [[Ludwig von Lauter]] and Colonel Kramer from OHL ignored the new thinking and in much of the new position, they put artillery observation posts in the front line or in front of it and the front position was on forward slopes, near crests or at the rear of long reverse slopes.{{sfn|Wynne|1976|pp=138–139}}

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==Footnotes==
{{reflist|20em}}

==References==
{{refbegin}}
'''Books'''
* {{cite book |series=The Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918 |volume=IV |title=The Australian Imperial Force in France, 1917 |last=Bean |first=C. E. W. |author-link=Charles Bean |year=1982 |orig-year=1933 |publisher=Australian War Memorial |location=Canberra |edition=11th |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/RCDIG1069753/ |access-date=18 January 2020 |isbn=978-0-7022-1710-4}}
* {{cite book |title=Haig's Enemy: Crown Prince Rupprecht and Germany's War on the Western Front |last=Boff |first=J. |year=2018 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |edition=1st |isbn=978-0-19-967046-8}}
* {{cite book |series=History of the Great War Based on Official Documents by Direction of the Historical Section of the Committee of Imperial Defence |title=Military Operations France and Belgium 1917: The German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line and the Battles of Arras |volume=I |last=Falls |first=C. |author-link=Cyril Falls |year=1992 |orig-year=1940 |publisher=[[HMSO]] |location=London |edition=repr. Imperial War Museum and Battery Press |isbn=978-0-89839-180-0}}
* {{cite book |title=A Record of the Battles and Engagements of the British Armies in France and Flanders 1914–1918 |last=James |first=E. A. |year=1990 |orig-year=1924 |publisher=Gale & Polden |location=Aldershot |edition=repr. London Stamp Exchange |isbn=978-0-948130-18-2}}
* {{cite book |title=The War in the Air, Being the Story of the Part played in the Great War by the Royal Air Force |volume=II |last=Jones |first=H. A. |year=2002 |orig-year=1928 |publisher=Clarendon Press |location=London |edition=Imperial War Museum and Naval & Military Press |url=https://archive.org/details/warinairbeingsto02rale |access-date=4 May 2015 |isbn=978-1-84342-413-0}}
* {{cite book |title=The First World War: The War to End All Wars |last1=Simkins |first1=P. |last2=Jukes |first2=G. |last3=Hickey |first3=M. |publisher=Osprey |year=2003 |location=Oxford |isbn=978-1-84176-738-3}}
* {{cite book |title=The German Army at Cambrai |last=Sheldon |first=J. |year=2009 |publisher=Pen & Sword |location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-84415-944-4}}
* {{cite book |last=Spears |first=Sir Edward |author-link=Edward Spears |title=Prelude to Victory |year=1939 |publisher=Jonathan Cape |location=London |edition=1st |oclc=459267081}}
* {{cite book |last=Watson |first=A. |author-link=Alexander Watson (historian) |title=Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria-Hungary at War, 1914–1918 |year=2015 |orig-year=2014 |publisher=Penguin Random House UK |location=London |edition=2nd pbk. |isbn=978-0-141-04203-9}}
* {{cite book |title=If Germany Attacks: The Battle in Depth in the West |last=Wynne |first=G. C. |year=1976 |orig-year=1939 |publisher=Faber |location=Connecticut |edition=Greenwood Press, NY |isbn=978-0-8371-5029-1}}

===Theses===
* {{cite thesis |title=British Intelligence and the German Army 1914–1918 |last=Beach |first=James Michael |year=2004 |publisher=University of London |location=London |degree=PhD |url=http://catalogue.libraries.london.ac.uk/record=b2803506 |website=london.ac.uk |access-date=4 December 2013 |id={{EThOS|uk.bl.ethos.416459}} |oclc=500051492}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
===Books===
* {{cite book |editor-last=Foerster |editor-first=Wolfgang |series=Der Weltkrieg 1914 bis 1918 Die militärischen Operationen zu Lande [The World War 1914–1918 Military Operations on Land] |title=Die Kriegsführung im Frühjahr 1917 |trans-title=Warfare in the Spring of 1917 |volume=XII |year=2012 |orig-year=1939 |publisher=Verlag Ernst Siegfried Mittler & Sohn |location=Berlin |via=Die digitale Oberösterreichische Landesbibliothek |url=http://digi.landesbibliothek.at/viewer/image/AC01860055/1/LOG_0003/ |access-date=16 November 2013 |oclc=719270698}}
* {{cite book |last=Foley |first=R. T. |editor1-last=Dennis |editor1-first=P. |editor2-last=Grey |editor2-first=G. |title=1917: Tactics, Training and Technology |year=2007 |chapter=The Other Side of the Wire: The German Army in 1917 |pages=155–178 |publisher=Australian History Military Publications |location=Loftus, NSW |isbn=978-0-9803-7967-9}}
* {{cite book |title=Cavalry Studies: Strategical and Tactical |last=Haig |first=D. |author-link=Douglas Haig |year=2009 |orig-year=1907 |publisher=Hugh Rees |location=London |edition=General Books |url=https://archive.org/details/cavalrystudiess00haiggoog |access-date=23 March 2014 |isbn=978-0-217-96199-8}}
* {{cite book |title=Douglas Haig and the First World War |last=Harris |first=J. P. |year=2009 |orig-year=2008 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |edition=repr. |isbn=978-0-521-89802-7}}
* {{cite book |last=Nicholls |first=J. |title=Cheerful Sacrifice: The Battle of Arras 1917 |year=2005 |publisher=Pen and Sword Books |location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-84415-326-8}}
* {{cite book |title=The German Army in the Spring Offensives 1917: Arras, Aisne & Champagne |last=Sheldon |first=J. |year=2015 |publisher=Pen & Sword Military |location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-78346-345-9}}
* {{cite book |last=Simpson |first=A. |title=Directing Operations: British Corps Command on the Western Front 1914–18 |publisher=Spellmount |location=Stroud |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-86227-292-7}}
* {{cite book |title=France and the Great War, 1914–1918 |last1=Smith |first1=L. |last2=Audoin-Rouzeau |first2=Stéphane |last3=Becker |first3=A. |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2003 |location=[[Cambridge]] |isbn=978-0-521-66631-2}}
* {{cite book |last=Whitehead |first=R. J. |title=The Other Side of the Wire: With the XIV Reserve Corps: The Period of transition 2 July 1916 – August 1917 |date=June 2018 |volume=III |publisher=Helion |location=Warwick |edition=1st |isbn=978-1-911512-47-9}}

===Encyclopaedias===
* {{cite book |title=The Encyclopaedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History |editor-last1=Tucker |editor-first1=S. C. |editor-last2=Roberts |editor-first2=P. M. |publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]] |year=2005 |location=Santa Barbara, CA |isbn=978-1-85109-420-2}}
* {{cite book |title=The Times History of the War |volume=XII |author= |year=1914–1921 |publisher=The Times |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/timeshistoryofwa12londuoft |access-date=6 November 2013 |oclc=475617679}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line, 1917}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110611162957/http://www.1914-1918.net/bat17.htm The German Retreat to the Hindenburg Line]
* [https://en.historylapse.org/operation-alberich Operation Alberich, German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line]
* [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.503332 Spears, E. Prelude to Victory (1939) via Internet Archive]
* [https://www.museelignehindenburg.fr German withdrawal to the Hindenburg Line in Arras sector - history and museum]

{{World War I}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alberich, Operation}}
[[Category:Military operations of World War I involving Germany]]
[[Category:Military operations of World War I involving the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Battles of World War I involving France]]
[[Category:1917 in France]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1917]]
[[Category:Western Front (World War I)]]
[[Category:February 1917 in Europe]]
[[Category:March 1917 in Europe]]
[[Category:Scorched earth operations]]

Operation Alberich - Revision history

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